a day to congratulate

LISBON Geronimo
Allison Vapor Untouchable Jersey , May 22 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese
President Marcelo Rebelode Sousa on Monday praised EU's decision to close the
country'sexcessive deficit procedure and praised the Portuguese for
theirsacrifices in the past years.

""Today is a day to congratulate the Portuguese. This decisionwas only
possible due to their sacrifices over many years,"" Rebelode Sousa said.

""Tomorrow is a day for all of us to start working to converttoday's decision
into what matters: more confidence, moreinvestment, more growth and more
employment,"" he told journalistsfollowing a seminar about euthanasia at the
faculty of medicalsciences in Lisbon.

The decision on behalf of the European Commission to recommendthe Economic
and Financial Affairs Council to close Portugal'sexcessive deficit procedure was
revealed on Monday at thepresentation of the European Spring Semester Package.

The European Commission has pointed out that Portugal managed toreduce its
deficit to 2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (DGP) in2016, below the 3 percent
threshold in the Stability and GrowthPact, and that according to the next
economic forecasts the deficitwill be below the 3 percent ceiling in both 2017
and 2018.

Portugal's exiting the excessive deficit procedure will be aturnaround for a
country that in 2011 had to sign a 78-billion-eurobailout program with
international lenders when it was on the vergeof bankruptcy.

The previous administration led by Pedro Passos Coelhointroduced harsh
spending cuts and tax hikes to cut the deficit,but the current Socialist
government led by Antonio Costa decidedto reverse austerity and has shocked
sceptics by cutting thedeficit to the lowest level in around 40 years.

Portugal's debt remains very high, at over 130 percent of GDP,and only
Canadian rating agency DBRS rates the country's debt asinvestment. Enditem

" "

PRAGUE, June 9 (Xinhua) - At the DESCOP Defence and Security Conference here
on Friday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU needs
an common security and defence policy, only the soft power is not enough to
ensure security in the present world.

Juncker stressed that it is not the question of whether the EU should
strengthen its ability to face threats, but how fast it would do it. The key to
security on the continent is cooperation with NATO, but European countries
should play a stronger role and be able to act independently.

In today's world, a strong NATO, a strong European Union and a strong
relationship between the two, are more important than they ever have been
before, said Juncker. Current threats - whether war conflicts, cyber attacks, or
terrorism - demand that EU member countries convert the idea of defense
cooperation into reality.

Juncker said the soft power in itself is not powerful enough in an
increasingly militarised world, there is the need of a credible EU defence
policy. He said a European Security and Defence Union will help protect the EU,
of which three quarters of Europeans are in favour. In the 1950s, attempts to
move towards common defence have been part of the European project, said
Juncker.

For the defence of EU, Juncker said it is important to make sure that EU
spend what is needed on its defence. The EU spends half as much as the United
States on the defence but even only achieve 15 percent of their efficiency. That
is both inefficient and costly.

Juncker said the EU needs to invest more, and invest in a more efficient way.
The European Commission proposed a European Defence Fund for making the European
Union the biggest investor in collective defence research and technology in
Europe.

At the DESCOP conference, Juncker, EU diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini and
NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller agreed that the need for deeper
defence cooperation stems from the increasing threat. They said Europe must take
care of its own defence more than before and strengthen its own capabilities as
it cannot keep relying exclusively on NATO forces.

Juncker arrived in Prague on Thursday to attend the DESCOP conference which
was attended by representatives of NATO and the EU.

" Australia has a reputation for providing the world with legendary sports
men and woman, world class facilities, sporting technology and arguably the
worlds number one development base. With Australia being a first world nation
and a country with such a solid financial base; it is interesting to look at
government funding in sport and recreation activities.

The ABS
(Australian Bureau of Statistics) conducted a study for the financial year of
20002001 into government funding in sport and recreation activities. In this
study there were various conclusive results that were found.

Government
funding for sport and recreation activities is split into three different
sectors, National (Australian Commonwealth) Government funding, State-Territory
Government funding and Local Government funding. In the research study of the
financial year of 20002001 by the ABS it was found that the total expenditure
for sport and recreation activities was $2,124.2 million. Of this figure
National Government contributed $198.9 million, State and Territory contributed
$875.2 million and Local Government contributed $1,050.1 million.